Tri For the Cure

I had another race yesterday. Although it was only my second official race this year, it feels like I've been doing nothing but triathlons lately. If you count all the race rehearsals my training group puts on, yesterday's was actually my 6th this summer and my 4th weekend in a row waking up at 4:45 to do a race. All day Saturday, I kept saying to myself, "Really? Another triathlon? Really?" I also went on a long hike on Friday and, since my hiking muscles are a little out of practice, I was still really sore on Sunday morning. I dragged myself out of bed (actually, not the hard part - on top of everything else, I didn't sleep a wink!) and decided to just go and enjoy the race. Tri for the Cure is all women and packed with first-time triathletes, which is really exciting and empowering. A lot of the women in my tri group were doing it as their first tri, so I just tried to focus on enjoying that energy.

Guess what? It was a personal best! I typically finish this distance in around 1:45 and my time yesterday was 1:32:15, which was in the top 15% of my age group! It was actually really good for my confidence - lately I've been feeling like no matter how much I train, I just never get much faster. Maybe it's a little lame to get a boost in confidence by competing against a bunch of beginners, but, hey, I was doing my first tri ever in a similar all-women's race a mere three years ago. If anything, it was another reminder of how far I've come.

I finished the swim in about my usual time - just under 15 minutes. The waves started 4 minutes apart and the women in the wave in front of me were all wearing green caps. I just kept saying in my head, "Catch the green! Catch the green!" Before I even reached the first buoy, I was pretty much surrounded by green caps. (Again, a lot of beginners in the race, so probably a lot of new swimmers). Every time I saw a blue cap (from my wave), I tried to keep up with them, catch them, or pass them. Of my wave, I was 27th out of the water, which isn't bad considering there were 320+ of us. For my next race (another all-women's race with lots of beginners), I'm going to pay close attention to the color of the caps two waves ahead of me and try to catch them too!

I enjoyed the bike a lot. It was a little chaotic because the race wasn't governed under USAT rules, which prohibit drafting and require specific passing procedures. But, the roads were blocked off and was really liberating to not have to worry about cars. There were parts of the course where we were even able to use BOTH lanes! I paid close attention to my cadence and speed and averaged 17.5 mph! (Unfortunately, I got a flat tire while walking my bike back to the car, but during the race I was good to go.)

The run! Ok, it was still really hot, but after the scorching heat of the last two weekends, the 90+ degree weather almost felt like a cool front. I was able to pace myself at 9:24/mile, which may be the fastest I've ever run a 5k! And it pretty much felt like business as usual . . . it was a pushed pace for sure, but definitely doable. I felt so good after crossing the finish line, I almost felt like I could run another 10k. About two hours later, the tiredness and soreness set in!

My next race is the Seattle Danskin in two weeks, which should be a fun one because my family will be there to cheer me on! It should also be interesting to see how cooler weather and lower altitudes affect my race. And this weekend - wait for it - I get to sleep past 5am on Sunday!